Biographies of Industrial Commission Personnel

Bernadine S. Ballance is a native of Windsor, N.C. She was appointed Commissioner in September 1994 by Governor Jim Hunt after the General Assembly expanded the Commission from three members to seven. Her previous experience includes: Deputy Commissioner for the Industrial Commission from November 1993 through September 1994; attorney in private practice with Frank W. Ballance, Jr. & Associates, P.A., Louisburg, N.C.; attorney supervisor, N.C. Central University School of Law Civil Litigation Clinic, Durham, N.C. (part-time during 1990); staff attorney for one year and managing attorney for four years at North Carolina Central Legal Assistance Program, Henderson N.C. office from 1982 through 1987.

She earned a B.S. degree in elementary education from East Carolina University in 1968, an M.A. degree in guidance and counseling from North Carolina Central University in 1978, and a J.D. degree from the North Carolina Central University School of Law, where she graduated with honors in 1981. She was a public school teacher for approximately eight years prior to attending law school.

She is married to Frank W. Ballance, Jr., an attorney and member of the North Carolina Senate. They have three adult children.

In June 1999, Governor James B. Hunt Jr. reappointed Thomas J. "Tom" Bolch of Raleigh to serve on the N.C. Industrial Commission. Governor Hunt initially appointed Bolch Commissioner in September 1994 after the General Assembly expanded the Industrial Commission from three members to seven. Bolch’s new term expires June 30, 2004.

Commissioner Bolch previously served as Administrator of the Industrial Commission, starting in September of 1993. Commissioner Bolch came to the Commission from the Raleigh office of the law firm of Moore & Van Allen, where he had been of counsel since June 1992. Prior to that, he served as general counsel for the North Carolina rural electric cooperatives, from 1976 through April of 1992.

Not new to state government, Commissioner Bolch served as law clerk to Associate Justice Susie Sharp of the N.C. Supreme Court in 1966-67, department attorney for the N.C. Department of Revenue in 1968, and as a Special Assistant Attorney General under Robert Morgan, where he served as Department Attorney for the then Department of Water and Air Resources, assisted Jean Benoy in setting up the Consumer Protection Division, and represented the using and consuming public before the Utilities Commission.

Commissioner Bolch is a Hickory native and a graduate of Hickory High School and of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.S. in business administration, 1964) and the Law School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (L.L.B. converted to J.D., in 1966).

Laura Kranifeld Mavretic was appointed Commissioner in August of 1995. Formerly, she was a Deputy Commissioner, having served in that position since November 1993.

She earned an undergraduate degree from Furman University in 1971, pursued graduate work in education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and earned a J.D. degree from Campbell University School of Law in May of 1981.

Her previous work experience includes appeals referee for the Employment Security Commission; private practice; assistant general counsel for the N.C. League of Municipalities; staff attorney for the City of Gastonia; and research assistant for the N.C. Court of Appeals. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar, North Carolina Bar Association, Wake County Bar Association, and Citizens Advisory Board of Duke Cancer Center.

Commissioner Mavretic is married and has one son.

Governor Jim Hunt appointed Renée Riggsbee Commissioner in October 1997. Her term ends June 30, 2002.

Renée Riggsbee is a cum laude graduate of Meredith College and earned her Juris Doctor degree in 1986 from the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Ms. Riggsbee came to the Commission from Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company, where she was claims counsel. Previously, she was a senior litigation associate for the firm of Bailey & Dixon in Raleigh. She has been a law clerk for former N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Jack Cozort and a staff attorney for Employment Law Research, where she did research and writing for Larson’s Treatises on Workers’ Compensation and other areas of employment law.

Ms. Riggsbee is the author of "Service of Initial Process" and "Jurisdiction" chapters in the Pretrial volume of a Practice Guides series for American Inns of Court, recently published by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing.

Renée Riggsbee is married and has two children.

Governor Jim Hunt appointed Chrisopher Scott Commissioner in October 1997. His term ends April 30, 2003.

Chris Scott is a graduate of Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, with a BA degree in English Literature. He earned a Master's Degree in English Literature from the University of Texas. For the past 14 years, he has been President of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO. Prior to becoming president, he was Secretary-Treasurer and Research Director of the State AFL-CIO, and Director of Research for Teamsters Local #391. From l977 to 1978, he was a Policy Advisor to Governor Hunt. He has also been a public school teacher.

In addition to his work experience, Mr. Scott has served on the Governor's Committee on Workforce Preparedness, the Advisory Committee of the N.C. Health Planning Commission, the Industrial Commission's Advisory Council, the Tax Fairness Study Commission, the Advisory Board of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, and the Board of the N.C. Civil Liberties Union.

Dianne C. Sellers was appointed by Governor James B. Hunt in 1994 as a Commissioner of the North Carolina Industrial Commission to serve a term of six years.

Before her appointment as Commissioner, Ms. Sellers served as Chief Deputy Commissioner for eight years and as a Deputy Commissioner for the prior eight years.

Currently, she is serving as secretary for the Workers’ Compensation Committee of the North Carolina Bar Association. In addition, she is President of the Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators. She also was appointed to the five-member Board of Regents of the International Workers’ Compensation College and is currently serving as Chair.

She attended Wake Forest University School of Law in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where she was President of the Student Bar Association after attending Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia where she received a B.A. in history. In addition, she received a masters degree in history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also studied liberal arts in Austria at the University of Vienna. She also worked as Press Secretary to a U.S. Representative in Washington, D.C.

Buck Lattimore became Administrator of the Industrial Commission in November l994. A native of Cleveland County with over 25 years of experience in government and business, Mr. Lattimore earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Wofford College. He received the Wofford College Department of Government Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. Mr. Lattimore has also served internships in the United States Senate and North Carolina General Assembly.

Prior to joining the Industrial Commission, Mr. Lattimore was Deputy Commissioner of Insurance and also served as Assistant Chief for Operations, Certificate of Need Program, Department of Human Resources. In the early 1980’s, Mr. Lattimore left state government and became Vice President of George Shinn & Associates, where he helped the Charlotte sports magnate win the Charlotte Hornets NBA franchise. He later established a public relations and publishing firm, and expanded his business holdings to include real estate, farming and retail interests.

Long active in his community, Mr. Lattimore has been president of the Carolinas’ Carrousel Parade (the largest Thanksgiving Day event in the Southeast), served as Chairman of Charlotte CrimeStoppers Board and currently serves on the Wofford College National Alumni Council.

Douglas Berger obtained a J.D. Degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989. Prior to that, he earned a Teaching Certificate in Social Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1985. In 1982 he obtained a B.A. degree in Political Science and Speech Communications.

In 1994 he became a Deputy Commissioner with the N.C. Industrial Commission in Raleigh. From 1991 through 1994, he was a Criminal Prosecutor for the 9th Judicial District. In 1990, he was a Criminal Prosecutor for 11th Judicial District.

Mr. Berger taught eighth grade N.C. History and 11th grade U.S. History for three years in the Kinston City School System. He is married to Annie Berger, a hearing impaired teacher, at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh. He has two children, Celia and Justus.

William Bost has been a Deputy Commissioner of the N.C. Industrial Commission for over two years. He was previously in private practice for 14 years.

Mr. Bost earned his B.A. degree in Political Science from Duke University in 1974, and he is a 1980 graduate of the Campbell University School of Law. He is a former member of the Moore County Board of Education.

Morgan Chapman joined the N.C. Industrial Commission in 1980. She is a 1978 graduate of Wake Forest University School of Law. A Rocky Mount native, Ms. Chapman practiced privately before joining the Commission.

Kim Cramer joined the Industrial Commission as a Deputy Commissioner in 1994. She worked as a Law Clerk at the Commission in 1983-84. Following her clerkship, she worked as an Agency Legal Specialist with the Department of Correction in 1984-85. She then joined the Attorney General's staff, where she represented State agencies in cases before the Industrial Commission as an Assistant Attorney General in the Tort Claims section from 1986-91. She was a Claims Counsel at Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company, investigating and monitoring legal malpractice claims from 1991 until she joined the Commission in 1994.

Ms. Cramer received a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her J.D. degree from Wake Forest University School of Law, where she was on the Moot Court Board and was awarded the Order of the Barristers. She was licensed to practice law in North Carolina in 1983.

Lorrie Dollar became a Deputy Commissioner at the N.C. Industrial Commission in 1993. She began her employment in 1985 as an agency legal specialist in the N.C. Department of Human Resources, where she served as an agency hearing officer, rulemaking coordinator, and advocate for older adults. In 1986, she was hired as an Agency Legal Specialist II with the N.C. Department of Correction, where duties included administrative rulemaking, section 1983 litigation in federal court, and personnel matters. In 1988, Mrs. Dollar was promoted to Departmental Legal Counsel at the Department of Correction, where duties included drafting legislation, supervising the departmental legal staff, and coordinating investigations.

Mrs. Dollar graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, History, and English, and holds her J.D. degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law. In 1984, she was awarded Second Prize in the Nathan Burkan Memorial Competition in Copyright Law, an annual national writing competition sponsored by ASCAP.

She has been active with the North Carolina Bar Association in the development of CLE Programs on Representing the Elderly (1986), the Administrative Procedures Act (1986), Administrative Litigation (1987), and AIDS and the Law (1990). She has also assisted in drafting "This is the Law" Brochures on AIDS/HIV infection and the Laws and Living Wills and Health Care Powers of Attorney.

Richard Ford joined the N.C. Industrial Commission in 1984. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and of Harvard University Law School, where he obtained a Doctorate of Juris Prudence Degree. Mr. Ford formerly was a private practitioner in Buncombe County for many years in the areas of criminal law, personal injury, wills and estates, workers’ compensation, family law, and real estate law. He has appeared in the District Courts and Superior Courts, N.C. Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of North Carolina. He enjoys his work as a Deputy Commissioner with intensive use of computer technology.

Deputy Commissioner Edward Garner, Jr. has been with the N.C. Industrial Commission since 1989. Prior to coming to the Industrial Commission, Mr. Garner served as Assistant Secretary in the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety where he had general supervisory responsibilities for the Division of Emergency Management, Civil Air Patrol, Butner Public Safety, N.C. National Guard, and the Governor’s Crime Commission. Mr. Garner also served as Corporate Counsel to Akzo America, Inc., where he was responsible for general corporate legal matters including labor relations, negotiating and drafting business contracts, antitrust counseling, litigation management, mergers and acquisitions, leases, EEO matters, immigration, UCC and real estate transactions.

Mr. Garner’s education includes a B.S. degree in Political Science from North Carolina A & T State University, a J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, Government Executives Institute, University of North Carolina School of Business Administration, Air Force Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and Air Force Air War College. Mr. Garner is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the N.C. Air National Guard. He is married and has three children.

George Glenn earned a B.S. Degree from North Carolina A&T State University in 1975 and a J.D. Degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 1982. Prior to his becoming a Deputy Commissioner with the N.C. Industrial Commission on January 1, 1995, he was a partner in the law firm of Barbee & Glenn.

Mr. Glenn taught school in Greensboro before entering the field of law. He is presently the President of the Gate City Chapter of North Carolina A&T State University Alumni Association, and he has served as a member and chair of the Greensboro Board of Adjustments, and a member of the State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors and the Executive Council of the General Greene chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. He is married and has three children.

John Hedrick graduated in 1987 with a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He obtained his J.D. degree in 1991 from Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. Mr. Hedrick’s wife, Tammy, practices law in Raleigh.

Mr. Hedrick was employed as a research assistant for Justice John Webb of the N.C. Supreme Court and Judge John C. Martin of the N.C. Court of Appeals. He then joined the Office of the Attorney General as an Associate Attorney General in that office’s environmental section where his primarily responsibilities involved representation of the Division of Coastal Management. Mr. Hedrick became a Deputy Commissioner of the N.C. Industrial Commission on 5 October 1994.

Mary Hoag was graduated from Wellesley College with an A.B. degree in political science. She was a Fulbright Scholar to India, teaching English at the University of Rajasthan in Jaipur. Awarded a Title IV Fellowship in Hindi, she obtained an M.A. degree in Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Ms. Hoag served as a Legislative Assistant to the late Senator Winston L. Prouty (R-Vt.) and a Special Assistant to (then) Secretary of HEW Elliot Richardson, and she worked in the White House Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SADDAP). In 1976, Ms. Hoag received her J.D. from Harvard University Law School. After working as a litigator at Davis, Polk & Wardwell in New York City, she was an antitrust attorney, oil and gas attorney and litigator on behalf of Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Resolution Trust Corporation in Houston, Texas. Returning to her birthplace in Raleigh, she joined the N.C. Industrial Commission as a Deputy Commissioner in 1994.

Margaret Morgan Holmes received her B.A. degree from Duke University in 1983 and her J.D. degree from Campbell University in 1986. She clerked for N.C. Supreme Court Justice Burley B. Mitchell, Jr. from 1986 to 1987.

Ms. Holmes worked for the law firm of LeBeouf, Lamb, Leiby and MacRae in Raleigh from 1987 to 1988; served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Diego, Calif. from 1989 to 1991; and was in private practice with the law firm of Morgan and Reeves in Raleigh from 1991 to 1995, during which time she also served as a Hearing Examiner for the N.C. Safety and Health Review Board (1994-95). She was sworn in as a Deputy Commissioner with the N.C. Industrial Commission in 1995.

Phillip Holmes of Hillsborough received his A.B. degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972. He also obtained a Master’s Degree in Sports Administration from Ohio University in 1975 and obtained his J.D. Degree from Campbell University School of Law in 1980.

Mr. Holmes has practiced criminal law for 14 years as both a prosecutor and as a criminal defense attorney. He comes to the N.C. Industrial Commission from the District Attorney’s Office in Durham. He has also been an Assistant District Attorney in Greensboro and Asheboro.

Mr. Holmes was sworn in as a Deputy Commissioner on July 7, 1995. He is married to the former Cindy Chambers, who works for Mental Health in Burlington, N.C.

William Bain Jones, Jr. received a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1978. While at the University, he received a Chancellor’s Award, the Roger A. Davis Award, and was inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece.

In 1985, Mr. Jones received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. During law school, he was awarded the C. C. Torbert Brief Writing Award and became a member of Phi Delta Phi.

Mr. Jones joined the Commission as Special Deputy Commissioner for the Form 24 process in 1994 and was sworn in as a Deputy Commissioner in 1995. He is also a member of the N.C. Bar Association, the NCBA Workers’ Compensation Section, and the Wake County Bar Association.

In 1988 Amy Pfeiffer graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina State University, where she was named Outstanding Graduate of the Department of Communication. She then went to law school at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C., where she graduated in 1991.

After graduating from law school, for two semesters Ms. Pfeiffer taught Communications Law, a senior-level class in the Department of Communication at N.C. State. From January to December of 1992, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable John B. Lewis, Jr. of the N.C. Court of Appeals. Following her clerkship, Ms. Pfeiffer was a legislative assistant to the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers until July 1993 when she was hired as an Agency Legal Specialist by the N.C. Industrial Commission.

From July 1993 through May 1995, Ms. Pfeiffer was a law clerk to Commissioner James J. Booker. In June 1995 she was named a Special Deputy Commissioner, and in that capacity she has conducted informal hearings and entered orders concerning the termination or suspension of workers’ compensation benefits following the filing of Industrial Commission Forms 24. Ms. Pfeiffer resides in Apex with her husband, Steven Luyendyk, a lecturer at N.C. State.

John Schafer joined the N.C. Industrial Commission as its Dispute Resolution Coordinator in April of 1997. Since June of 1999, he has also been a Deputy Commissioner.

Mr. Schafer is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and received a J.D. degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1984. At Wake Forest, Mr. Schafer was the Chief Justice of the Moot Court Board, finished in first place and received the best brief award in the southeast region of the National Moot Court Competition, finished in first place in the southeast region of the National Trial Competition, and received the Order of the Barristers Award.

After receiving his law degree, Mr. Schafer served as law clerk to Honorable W. Earl Britt, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, from 1984 through 1986. From 1986 through 1997, Mr. Schafer practiced law in the Triangle area. His primary practice area was civil litigation in state and federal courts, and he also served as a mediator and arbitrator in cases pending before the Industrial Commission, Office of Administrative Hearings, American Arbitration Association, as well as in state and federal courts.

Mr. Schafer became the Dispute Resolution Coordinator of the N.C. Industrial Commission in April of 1997. He also serves as the Vice-Chair of the N.C. Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section, and as an ex-officio member of the N.C. Dispute Resolution Commission.

He is married to attorney Allison B. Schafer, counsel and director of policy for the N.C. School Boards Association, and has two children.

Deputy Commissioner Chrystal Redding Stanback received her undergraduate degree in International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988 and her law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1991. She then entered into private practice with Stanback and Stanback Attorneys in Greensboro and The Law Offices of Desiree Crawford in Henderson, N.C., before coming to the N.C. Industrial Commission in January 1995. Ms. Stanback served as an agency legal specialist and assistant to the Mediation Coordinator until being named as a Deputy Commissioner in June 1995.

Ms. Stanback currently serves as the Vice-President of the Knightdale-Wake Forest Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; she is also a member of the Capital City Lawyers Association and Elevation Baptist Church.

Ms. Stephenson is married to James B. Stephenson, II, a principal in the law firm of McDaniel, Anderson & Stephenson. The Stephensons have two daughters.

Wanda Taylor received her B.A. degree from Duke University in 1984 and received her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School in 1987. Ms. Taylor spent eight years in private practice civil litigation involved primarily in medical malpractice, toxic tort, personal injury, and employment litigation.

She is licensed to practice in North Carolina and South Carolina and admitted to practice before all North Carolina State and Federal Courts as well as the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Taylor was most recently with the law firms of McNair & Sanford and The Sanford Law Firm. She became a Deputy Commissioner with the N.C. Industrial Commission in February 1996.

Pamela Thorpe Young received her B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel and her law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law. She is licensed to practice law before all Texas State and Federal Courts as well as in North Carolina. Ms. Young has over eight years of legal experience, including over four years as a prosecutor in Travis County, Texas.

From 1993 to 1995, Ms. Young served as Counsel and Ethics Advisor for Texas Speaker of the House of Representatives James E. "Pete" Laney. Upon her return to North Carolina in 1995, Ms. Young worked in the Governor’s Office of State Planning. Ms. Young became a Deputy Commissioner with the N.C. Industrial Commission in October 1996.

Ms. Young is married to Reuben F. Young, an Associate Attorney General for the N.C. Department of Justice. They have two children.

Tracey Harrell Weaver became Executive Secretary of the N.C. Industrial Commission in August, 1995. She joined the Commission in 1993 and was a Special Deputy Commissioner for the informal hearing procedure prior to her appointment as Executive Secretary.

Ms. Weaver obtained her B.A. degree in English and in Speech Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990. She earned her J.D. degree from the UNC School of Law in 1993. Ms. Weaver was a member of the Holderness Moot Court and served as president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation while a law student.

She is a member of the Workers’ Compensation Section and Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association. She also serves on the State Government Workers’ Compensation Advisory Committee.

Gina Cammarano joined the N.C. Industrial Commission as a Special Deputy Commissioner in October of 1997. She earned a B.B.A. degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1990 and a J.D. degree with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law in 1995. During law school, Ms. Cammarano was a member of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation.

Jim Gillen received his B.A. degree in English from North Carolina State University in 1991 and his law degree from Campbell University’s School of Law in 1994. He joined the N.C. Industrial Commission in October of 1994 and worked as Commissioner Laura K. Mavretic’s law clerk from August of 1995 through February of 1998, when he joined the Executive Secretary’s office.

Ronnie Rowell has been a Special Deputy Commissioner with the N.C. Industrial Commission since 1996. He previously worked with the Industrial Commission as an Agency Legal Specialist and as a Law Clerk. Mr. Rowell was also an Assistant Attorney General with the N.C. Department of Justice, a staff attorney with the N.C. Department of Insurance, an Instructor-Coordinator with the North Carolina Justice Academy, an Appeals Referee with the N.C. Employment Security Commission, an attorney with the Wake County Attorney’s Office, and a Deputy Sheriff with the Wake County Sheriff’s Department.

He earned his B.A. degree from East Carolina University in 1974 and his J.D. degree from Campbell University School of Law in 1982.

Lee Capasso graduated from Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey, in 1992 with a B.S. degree in Business Administration. After moving to Raleigh in 1993, she served four years as Compliance Officer with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Division of Waste Management. Ms. Capasso joined the N.C. Industrial Commission staff on February 2, 1998, serving in the position of Ombudsman.

Stephanie Moultrie attended North Carolina Central University and received a B.A. degree in Public Administration in 1988. She is a native of Elizabethtown, N.C., and has lived and worked in the Raleigh area for the past 10 years.

Ms. Moultrie began working at the N.C. Industrial Commission on January 9, 1995 as an Ombudsman, a newly created position arising out of the passage of Senate Bill 906. Prior to coming to the Industrial Commission, she served as the Executive Secretary to the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Transportation. Ms. Moultrie also served under Governor James B. Hunt in the Governor’s Personnel Office in Personnel Appointments and served as Agency Liaison for that division. She also served as an Independent Educational Consultant for the Department of Public Instruction as well as Program Director for Girl’s Incorporated.

Ms. Moultrie is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Administrative Law at North Carolina Central University.

Susan Shearin is an ombudsmen for the N.C. Industrial Commission. Four ombudsmen positions were created under the Workers’ Compensation Reform Act of 1994 to assist unrepresented claimants, employers, and other parties by providing information about Workers’ Compensation. All four ombudsmen assumed their duties on January 9, 1995.

Miss Shearin earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio, Television, and Motion Pictures from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned a paralegal certificate, with a specialty in Civil Litigation, from the National Center for Legal Training in Atlanta, Georgia. She later continued her legal studies at Campbell University School of Law.

Miss Shearin worked as an on-the-air announcer and news reporter for WPTF-AM Radio. She worked as a paralegal for a law firm in Raleigh and for the N.C. Department of Justice where she also worked as a Medicaid fraud investigator. Before joining the staff of the Industrial Commission, she was a legislative assistant for the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Paula Barnes' biography will be posted here when received.

Phillip Hopkins was first employed by the N.C. Industrial Commission in November of 1971; he worked in the Docket Department. He thereafter resigned his position to attend Lenoir Community College to obtain a degree in Court Reporting. He returned to the Commission in May of 1973 as a court reporter. He worked as a court reporter for approximately eight years. This entailed traveling with a Deputy Commissioner, reporting as well as transcribing workers’ compensation and tort claim hearings.

Thereafter, Mr. Hopkins became supervisor of the Legal Secretaries, supervising approximately 14 secretaries. Subsequently, he assisted the Administrator and Chief Deputy Commissioner in the administration of the Court Reporting Contract and was responsible for maintaining hearing trip assignments as well as invoicing the costs associated with hearing trips. He was appointed Docket Director on September 1, 1993; and he is primarily responsible for placing workers’ compensation and tort claims on the hearing docket. He is also responsible for setting cases for review by the Full Commission. Being with the Commission for a period of 25 years and working in the various departments has enabled him to obtain an in-depth knowledge of the Workers’ Compensation Act of the State of North Carolina.

Margaret Dunn, RN, CIRS, CCM, received her education at Wilmington College/JWM Hospital, N.C. State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Duke University. She spent two years as a Lieutenant in the Air Force Nurse Corp., and six years at Duke Medical Center where she was Head Nurse of their original Surgical Cardiovascular Ward. She has been with the N.C. Industrial Commission since 1974, and has been the Supervisor of the Nurses Section since June 1995.

Joann Thorpe was appointed Director of Statistics of the N.C. Industrial Commission in May 1995. She has been employed by the Commission for 24 years; and during this period, she has been exposed to various sections in the Commission. She is responsible for providing the Industrial Commission with filed claims records and collecting statistical data on workers’ compensation injuries/occupational illnesses. She is responsible for researching insurance coverage and updating the system for self-insurance coverage. Her other responsibilities include reviewing and auditing claims to ensure that the appropriate entitlement benefits are accurate; recording the codes for the essential elements relating to injuries/occupational illnesses for statistical tables; and maintaining an online index of computer programs to retrieve requested data in-house and for the general public. She is a graduate of the Washington Technical University.

Jim Howell was appointed Director of Safety Education in August 1994, after serving for five years as Eastern Area Field Representative of the N.C. Industrial Commission Safety Section.

Mr. Howell has worked in the business world, primarily in the textile manufacturing and chemical service industries, in a variety of management, supervisory, and staff positions. He also served in industrial safety and accident prevention staff positions in manufacturing environments.

He earned a B.S. degree in Textile Manufacturing from N.C. State University.

Leonard Ray Young came to the N.C. Industrial Commission Fraud Investigative Unit, a newly established position within the Industrial Commission, on October 20, 1997. He has six years of law enforcement experience, including three years as a Master Officer-Detective with the Wake Forest Police Department of Wake Forest, NC. He also has 20 years of experience in the construction industry, with a concentration of his experience in structural steel and concrete work. He has worked as project engineer and project superintendent on multimillion-dollar projects ranging from power plants to airport structures from coast to coast.